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Practice signing these basic expressions in American Sign Language (ASL) to meet and greet people, join in on conversations, answer questions, and be polite and courteous.

How to sign cardinal (counting) and ordinal (ordering) numbers will get you through everyday situations. When you want to specify that there’s more than one item — plural — you sign the item first, followed by the quantity. Unlike English, you don’t have to change the item to a plural by adding “s.” You need to show what the item is before you can tell someone how many.

When sharing info through American Sign Language (ASL) about your profession, be it your job title or what your job entails, you can usually use signs specific to that job or function. This table lists just a few of the many job signs.

Using pronouns in American Sign Language (ASL) is the same as in English; you need to refer to a noun before you use a pronoun. You may also use possessives during your Sign conversation. Show possession by indicating whom you are talking about, what is being possessed, and then an open palm facing the person.

Through the years, Deaf people have faced numerous challenges. For example, not all states in the United States recognize American Sign Language (ASL) as a foreign language. Other past challenges included little access to education and almost no opportunity for gainful employment. Although things have improved over time, Deaf people still face obstacles.

Half the fun of going to movies, plays, and museums lies in setting up a date and anticipating the treat. This article helps you make your plans by showing you how to sign not only what time you want to go but also which day or even which week. Here are the days of the week. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY Use the first letter in the manual alphabet to sign the weekdays and Saturday, but use T-H for Thursday.

Did you know that counting in Sign can be done in 27 different ways? That's a pretty cool piece of trivia, but for this article, you just concentrate on two of those ways — using cardinal and ordinal numbers. If you'd like to check out some other ways to count, Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute of the Deaf are great resources.

A relay service is just that — a telephone service that relays information to a Deaf caller who doesn’t have or isn’t using a TTY telecommunications device. A toll-free number connects you to a TTY operator. You can find the toll-free TTY-operator number in the front section of any phone book under Directory Services or from any agency that provides services for the Deaf or hard-of-hearing.

The first teletype machine was invented in 1964 by a Deaf physicist named Robert Weitbrecht. With this invention, Weitbrecht opened up the world of tele-conversation to the Deaf. When people refer to teletype machines, they may refer to them as TTYs (TeleTYpe) or as TDDs (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf).